Tiswas
Encyclopedia
Tiswas was a Saturday morning children's British
television
series which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982 and was produced for the ITV
network by ATV Network Limited
.
It was created by ATV continuity announcer Peter Tomlinson
(later to become a regular presenter on the show) following a test period in 1973 when he tried out a few competitions and daft stuff between the programmes. It had a fanatical following among students and parents .
The word 'tiswas' means a state of confusion or commotion, but the show's name 'officially' stood for "Today Is Saturday, Watch And Smile".
s and old films. The popularity of the presenters' links soon eclipsed the staple diet of filler.
It was originally produced as a Midlands
regional programme by ATV and was first broadcast live on 5 January 1974. The then federal
structure of ITV, with its independent regional companies, meant that not all of these operations broadcast the show when it became available for networked transmission. Over a period of time, most ITV regions did, with Granada Television
and Southern Television
being the last in 1979. Tyne Tees finally decided to take Tiswas for its final series in 1981. The smallest broadcaster in the network, Channel Television
, did not carry the programme.
Most famously hosted by Chris Tarrant
between 1974 and 1981, and later Sally James, it also featured the young Lenny Henry
and occasionally Jim Davidson
together with Bob Carolgees
and his puppet, Spit the Dog. John Gorman, former member of 1960s cult band The Scaffold
, was also in regular attendance. On the programme, Birmingham
folk-singer and comedian Jasper Carrott
was to introduce the nation to the Dying Fly Dance and also to many local hospital casualty wards as the dance at one point soared high in the RoSPA list of common causes of household injury. Like its cleaner BBC
counterpart, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
, it had a running order but no script (with the exception of some specific sketches). The programme was broadcast from Studio 3 at ATV Centre
in Birmingham
; this was the weekday home for the company's regional news magazine, ATV Today.
The show was a stitch-together of competitions, film clips and pop promos, just about held together by sketches and links from the cast. The show also regularly featured spoofs of BBC
children's programming.
A feature of Tiswas was The Cage wherein initially the child audience, and later their fathers, were confined and periodically doused in water (one spin-off of the series was the hit The Bucket of Water Song, performed by the Four Bucketeers
), whilst the series was also frequently visited by the Phantom Flan Flinger, who would throw flans
around the studio at all and sundry. Both Tarrant and the Flan Flinger would take great delight in trying to 'flan' cameramen who would go to great lengths to avoid being hit.
and John Asher from just a desk in a continuity studio, the pair had to rely on ad-libs and jokes sent in by viewers. Within a few weeks, the show was moved to studio 3 at ATV Centre (a studio usually reserved for amongst other programmes, the news magazine programme, ATV Today) from which Tiswas was produced for the majority of its run.
Due to an industrial dispute by technicians at Associated TeleVision
, this initial run was only nine programmes in all, but was so well received that a second series was commissioned.
Billed in TV Times as "Today Is Saturday or the Tis-was Show", the title sequence features both "Today Is Saturday" and the original "Tiswas" chunky letters logo, shown over a background very similar to that of The Golden Shot
. The sequence featured clips from various films and Disney cartoons, backed by a funky jazz number known as "Atomic Butterfly" (which also seems to have been used for Sports Arena, an HTV Wales sports programme in the early 70s).
(later director of sport at Setanta Sports
) and announcer Peter Tomlinson
(later to become managing director of Saga Radio West Midlands and High Sheriff of the West Midlands
).
Producer Peter Harris
would leave the show in the summer to help produce another cult TV success - The Muppet Show
, at ATV's London-orientated operation in Elstree
.
was intended to be a regular presenter, but left after only a few editions, although he would return for cameo appearances. Peter Tomlinson was axed as a regular, which came as a surprise to him.
Chris Tarrant was still retained as the anchor presenter, and behind the scenes was annoyed with the changes, particularly the inclusion of a woman as presenter. However, he later retracted this viewpoint, having witnessed the progress Tiswas had made with Sally's contribution.
One significant change almost never happened. ATV management were displeased with the visual slapstick element - the hurling of custard pies and water. They believed this was setting a bad example to the young viewers. Newly-drafted producer/director Glyn Edwards managed to retain this vital, messy element by drawing on his experience as a Punch & Judy puppeteer to create a 'villain' character called 'The Phantom Flan Flinger', who would be the black-clad masked nemesis of the presenting team, and the main instigator of pie-throwing chaos. The "phantom" was later revealed to be Ben Mills, a taxi driver from Cheswick Green, Solihull.
John Gorman made his debut in this series, but with just four appearances, it would not be until series 5 that he became a regular visitor to the Tiswas studios. Likewise, child performer Paul Hardin would make sporadic appearances.
The programme expanded its footprint further outside its home region. As well as appearing in part on HTV's Ten on Saturday, Anglia
, Border
and Scottish television began to screen Tiswas in its entirety. Anglia dropped the series a number of times to pick up other regions' Saturday morning programmes throughout Tiswass history.
Bob Carolgees made his debut in early 1979, having been told to go on the programme by Irish comic Frank Carson
. Carolgees appeared again two weeks later, and Chris was so pleased with his contribution that he decided to make a regular fixture out of Bob.
Lenny Henry
made sporadic appearances throughout this series, but was not established as a regular. Child performer Paul Hardin increased his visits to the studios, and could well be considered as a series 5 team member, likewise Sylveste McCoy
(who added an "r" to his first name later in his career) who performed surreal comic interludes.
(IBA) about some of the edgier moments the show had.
With an almost national audience, the show became inclusive of its increased viewership by making a bigger role out of specially invited viewer performances. Many of these were children who sang songs or performed dance routines. Chris Tarrant, now producer as well as presenter, found most of these contributions to be of little value, until he came across a unique act by a five year old boy called Matthew Butler
. Encouraged by his Tiswas-obsessed mother, Matthew auditioned for the series wearing a rabbit costume and sang the song 'Bright Eyes
' made famous by the animated film Watership Down
, although his own singing ability was rather poor. Chris found this so amusing that he arranged for him to appear on the following Tiswas, as well as many subsequent editions.
Also appearing a number of times in this series was Norman Collier
, the Yorkshire comedian best known for his broken microphone routine and chicken impressions.
Another by-product of Tiswas increased audience was the merchandise bandwagon - an annual book was established, and there was a tour of universities (recognising their adult and teenaged audience) by the Tiswas team, under the name of The Four Bucketeers
, which tied in with their spin-off album on CBS Records
. This all was born out of one feature of the sixth series - The Bucket Of Water Song, which was such a hit with the viewers that it evolved from an intended one-off to an almost regular part of Tiswas.
This series can be considered as the definitive series, due to the material drawn from this era that usually gets an airing on documentaries and clips shows when Tiswas is the subject. In addition, the three video compilations that have been released for sale have been packaged around a seventh series theme, with the bulk of the clips also being from this age.
Midway through this series, Chris Tarrant
decided to leave upon the series' conclusion. Also leaving him, on the final edition of series 7, were Bob Carolgees, Lenny Henry and John Gorman. They had decamped to start work on O.T.T.
, a late night version of Tiswas intended for an adult audience, which would debut in 1982. The only regular Tiswas presenter left was Sally James, who stayed on for series 8.
The new presenting team consisted of Midlands DJ Gordon Astley
, former Darts
frontman Den Hegarty
and comic impressionist Fogwell Flax. Veteran Tiswas presenter Sally James stayed on and became the series' Music Editor, but decided to leave towards the series' end. This was likely to be one of the main factors in Central Television
's decision not to bring the programme back for a ninth series.
Semi-regulars were dwarf actor David Rappaport
who played characters such as 'Green Nigel' (in a pastiche of BBC programme Blue Peter
) and the Fonz-like 'Shades', Emil Wolk and puppeteer Trevor James with a giant parrot, presumably in a way to fill the void left by Bob Carolgees.
One Nine for Santa, was released by Fogwell Flax & the Anklebiters and featured on the show during December 1981.
At the end of 1981, a restructure of ITV
's broadcast franchises saw ATV win back the franchise for the Midlands on condition of changes in management, regional output and branding. The first part of the final series was therefore produced by ATV and the second part by Central Independent Television
.
The decision by TVS
, the new ITV station in the south and south east of England, to drop the Central-produced half of the last series in favour of their own Saturday morning programme No. 73
saw fans of Tiswas picket outside their Southampton
studios. The eighth series was broadcast on TVS upon the end of No. 73
s first series.
During its ATV days, the chairman of the station Lew Grade
, was said to have taken a personal dislike to the show but was persuaded to let it continue, even arguing in its defence to criticism from the IBA. It was believed that the new management at Central frowned upon the anarchy of Tiswas (and the common popularity of another production, the soap-opera Crossroads) and in a desire to make the station more upmarket than its previous incarnation took the evidence of declining audiences for the new format to axe Tiswas after series 8.
investigation (as was standard practice at the time). Accordingly, they suffered the same fate as a number of 1970s children's series in that they were thought to have no further commercial use (the idea of home video entertainment was still in its infancy), and therefore many master tapes were wiped
for re-use. As a result very few programmes officially exist in their entirety. Those that were kept were often stored in poor conditions, which led to severe picture deterioration and are no longer of broadcast quality
.
However, some did survive; many viewers made their own recordings and in many cases these are the only existing copies of the programmes. Members of the production team and performers on the show would also record their appearances, leading to many episodes existing in private hands. In 2006, ITV began a search for many missing ITV programmes, including Tiswas, for their Raiders Of The Lost Archive series broadcast in 2007.
Their website reveals that only 22 episodes are known to officially exist in entirety - namely episode 60 from 30 August 1975, four episodes from 1978, two episodes from 1979, two episodes from 1980, five episodes from 1981 and nine episodes from 1982. Incomplete segments from show 151 (broadcast on 10 December 1977), an episode from 1978 and two episodes from 1979 are also known to have survived.
The prolific TiswasOnline fansite features an in-depth episode guide for the whole series, detailing where an episode is known to exist, whether as a private home recording or in the official archive. ITV plc has confirmed to TiswasOnline that many more programme elements (other than those officially known to exist) have been kept, but as yet these have not been fully catalogued. This may include insert material such as animations and graphics or filmed clips. Furthermore, the Tiswas Reunited programme in 2007 resulted in the discovery of further footage.
. Although he appeared in the unscreened pilot he was unavailable for the series itself, which was instead broadcast as The Saturday Show. It was fronted by Isla St Clair
, folksinger and former co-host of The Generation Game
on BBC TV and Tommy Boyd
, former co-presenter of ITV's Magpie
. It ran from 1982 to 1984.
and Helen Atkinson-Wood
called O.T.T.
(standing for "Over the Top") which was effectively an "adult" version of Tiswas - in other words, it attempted to be just as anarchic, but with swearing and occasional topless women. It was not such a success and is today chiefly remembered for the naked 'Balloon Dance' performed by The Greatest Show on Legs, including comedian Malcolm Hardee
. The theme tune was recorded by Roy Wood
and was released as a single
was a late night comedy show based in a pub. Although intended as some sort of sequel to O.T.T., this differed quite a lot as it was all recorded rather than the live chaos of its predecessor. It mainly consisted comedy sketches, with some live music acts - usually Thin Lizzy
and Roy Wood
. Saturday Stayback received much less controversy than O.T.T., and also introduced new talent such as Phil Cool
and Tony Slattery
. It lasted only six episodes. Chris Tarrant and Bob Carolgees were the only ex-Tiswas personnel regularly seen on screen, and John Gorman helped out on writing duty.
, culminating in an outside performance of The Bucket Of Water Song.
did a video link-up for a brief interview of the show. Out of the cult Saturday morning shows that were focused on, Tiswas was significantly the most prominent, with many clips shown from it, and even a re-enactment of two Tiswas staples - the Cage and the Pass The Pie game.
featured a thirty year old man singing 'Bright Eyes' with his friends as part of a talent spot. This person was Matthew Lewis, formerly known as Matthew Butler
, who performed his unique rendition of the song back in 1980 on Tiswas when he was aged five. Presenters Richard McCourt
and Dominic Wood
took the opportunity to praise Matthew, as they are fans of Tiswas, and also to dispel recent tabloid rumours of Dick and Dom resurrecting Tiswas on ITV. However, Wood did present one episode of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow wearing a Tiswas T-shirt.
appeared on the BBC's It Started With Swap Shop programme in 2006 in which he was talking to Noel Edmonds
about Tiswas being their rival during the whole era of Swap Shop.
The rivalry was such that it was even used by football fans singing on the terrraces. The home team chanting 'Tiswas' and the away team chanting 'swap shop'. Tiswas,swapshop..Tiswas,swapshop..Tiswas swapshop, etc.
on 16 June 2007, it started with the traditional ATV
logo and jingle. This programme had been delayed from May in order to allow for an extended transmission slot. Celebrities and 'old Tiswas mates' alike joined in the fun. In an interview publicising this, Chris Tarrant
put out an appeal to the public to submit any surviving video footage of the series to be included in the new programme - which resulted in the discovery of further footage.
A DVD release of the programme, featuring an extended edition plus a short featurette on the history of Tiswas was released shortly after transmission.
From the official press release:
The producers of the programme looked for people who were involved in the original series, whether they were in the audience, appeared as a guest, won a competition ("pulled up by the ears") or in any other capacity. The TiswasOnline website helped with these searches (and numerous other aspects of the new programme), and people could submit their details directly to the production team and apply to be in the cage.
A new logo for the programme was produced - it features the regular 'zig-zag' logo (including the Phantom Flan Flinger) with "Reunited" rubber-stamped across it.
The official Tiswas Reunited 'mini-site' features exclusive material about the making of the programme, as well as blogs by those who took part in the programme itself (guests and residents of the Cage!)
The ITV
broadcast referred only briefly to John Asher and Trevor East, the programme's original presenters, and omitted to make any reference to the eighth and final series (possibly because it was the one series in which Reuniteds Executive Producer Chris Tarrant was not involved.)
wrote the first three (Published in the Autumn of 1979, 1980, 1981), with Ollie Spencer writing the 1983 edition (prepared Spring 1982 and published Autumn 1982 featuring presenters and characters from the final 1981-82 series).
These compilations weren't like ordinary editions of Tiswas, in that 'non-original' content such as music videos, film clips and cartoons were stripped out. Original features like competition spots and pop interviews were also excluded, in favour of highlighting the show's legacy to comedy and visual slapstick.
- takes over as a surprise) and the 'viewer's letters' clip where Sally James is pied and drenched in semolina, baked beans and custard. Moving slightly away from comedy, the music video for The Four Bucketeers' Bucket Of Water song is included.
being soaked unexpectedly is a running gag, and there is a full rendition of 'Bright Eyes' from Matthew Butler. A music video for The Four Bucketeers' Water Is Wonderful ends the compilation.
, Michael Palin
and Bernard Manning
. Content-wise, it is very similar to the previous two compilations, with many sketches being performed by the Tiswas team. However, this compilation has no contribution from The Four Bucketeers.
Issued in October 2005 by Network DVD, The Best of Tiswas was a straight DVD issuing of the three VHS compilations - Best of the Best Bits, More of the Best Bits and Comedy Capers. Being on DVD format, the incentive over the VHS version is one of picture quality. However due to the rarity of some Tiswas material (many episodes surviving only on off-air recordings) there is some understandably rough-looking footage here and there. Additionally the More of the Best Bits compilation is entirely sourced from a VHS copy as the original VHS release's master tape could not be located in time for transfer.
Plans for a second volume are pending, based on sales of the first DVD.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982 and was produced for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network by ATV Network Limited
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
.
It was created by ATV continuity announcer Peter Tomlinson
Peter Tomlinson
Peter Tomlinson is a broadcaster and continuity announcer. He created the British children's television series Tiswas and was the programme's co-presenter in its early years....
(later to become a regular presenter on the show) following a test period in 1973 when he tried out a few competitions and daft stuff between the programmes. It had a fanatical following among students and parents .
The word 'tiswas' means a state of confusion or commotion, but the show's name 'officially' stood for "Today Is Saturday, Watch And Smile".
Overview
Tiswas began life as a 'links' strand between many 'filler' programmes, such as cartoonCartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
s and old films. The popularity of the presenters' links soon eclipsed the staple diet of filler.
It was originally produced as a Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
regional programme by ATV and was first broadcast live on 5 January 1974. The then federal
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
structure of ITV, with its independent regional companies, meant that not all of these operations broadcast the show when it became available for networked transmission. Over a period of time, most ITV regions did, with Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
and Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
being the last in 1979. Tyne Tees finally decided to take Tiswas for its final series in 1981. The smallest broadcaster in the network, Channel Television
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
, did not carry the programme.
Most famously hosted by Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
between 1974 and 1981, and later Sally James, it also featured the young Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
and occasionally Jim Davidson
Jim Davidson (comedian)
Jim Davidson OBE is a British comedian, actor and television presenter. He has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to entertainment, particularly of British service personnel in conflict zones.- Biography :The son of a Glaswegian father, Davidson was born in...
together with Bob Carolgees
Bob Carolgees
Bob Carolgees is a comedy entertainer who appeared on the Saturday morning TV series Tiswas and then later in its adult versions O.T.T. and Saturday Stayback. He is best-known for appearing with a puppet named Spit the Dog.-Career:In the early 1970s Carolgees ran a DJ and modelling school at 11A...
and his puppet, Spit the Dog. John Gorman, former member of 1960s cult band The Scaffold
The Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...
, was also in regular attendance. On the programme, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
folk-singer and comedian Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...
was to introduce the nation to the Dying Fly Dance and also to many local hospital casualty wards as the dance at one point soared high in the RoSPA list of common causes of household injury. Like its cleaner BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
counterpart, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop
Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, more commonly known simply as Swap Shop, is a UK children's television programme. It was broadcast on Saturday mornings on BBC1 for 146 episodes in six series between 1976 and 1982...
, it had a running order but no script (with the exception of some specific sketches). The programme was broadcast from Studio 3 at ATV Centre
Alpha Tower
Alpha Tower is a commercial building in Birmingham, England. It was built to a design by George Marsh of Richard Seifert & Partners as the headquarters of the commercial television company ATV and part of the companies' production studio complex known as ATV Centre...
in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
; this was the weekday home for the company's regional news magazine, ATV Today.
The show was a stitch-together of competitions, film clips and pop promos, just about held together by sketches and links from the cast. The show also regularly featured spoofs of BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
children's programming.
A feature of Tiswas was The Cage wherein initially the child audience, and later their fathers, were confined and periodically doused in water (one spin-off of the series was the hit The Bucket of Water Song, performed by the Four Bucketeers
Four Bucketeers
The Four Bucketeers were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV children's programme Tiswas.Officially, the Four were Chris Tarrant, Sally James, John Gorman and Bob Carolgees; sometimes Lenny Henry contributed as well. Gorman was the musical talent in the group, having been part of The...
), whilst the series was also frequently visited by the Phantom Flan Flinger, who would throw flans
Custard pie
A custard pie is any type of uncooked custard mixture added to an uncooked or partially cooked crust and baked together. In North America, custard pie commonly refers to a plain mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and sometimes nutmeg combined with a pie crust...
around the studio at all and sundry. Both Tarrant and the Flan Flinger would take great delight in trying to 'flan' cameramen who would go to great lengths to avoid being hit.
The logo
The original logo features the word "TISWAS" in chunky letters. A later version of this logo featured a circle going round the edge with "Today Is Saturday Watch And Smile" embossed upon it. The classic 'Zig-zag' logo appeared in 1977 designed by Stuart Kettle - this initially featured a mechanical bird flying above it, but later, Chris Wroe (who drew all of the classic caricatures of the Tiswas team) replaced this with a drawing of the Phantom Flan Flinger.Detractors of the show named TISWAS "This is shit,watch another station",which appeared on far more T shirts,and frequently worn on audience members,clearly visible on TV in what was supposed to be a clean and wholesome Childrens' show.Series 1
The first series was intended to be eleven episodes, purely acting as links between the usual staple fillers of old films and cartoons that ATV would transmit on Saturday mornings. Presented by Chris TarrantChris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
and John Asher from just a desk in a continuity studio, the pair had to rely on ad-libs and jokes sent in by viewers. Within a few weeks, the show was moved to studio 3 at ATV Centre (a studio usually reserved for amongst other programmes, the news magazine programme, ATV Today) from which Tiswas was produced for the majority of its run.
Due to an industrial dispute by technicians at Associated TeleVision
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
, this initial run was only nine programmes in all, but was so well received that a second series was commissioned.
Billed in TV Times as "Today Is Saturday or the Tis-was Show", the title sequence features both "Today Is Saturday" and the original "Tiswas" chunky letters logo, shown over a background very similar to that of The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot
The Golden Shot is a British television game show produced by ATV for ITV between 1 July 1967 and 13 April 1975, based on the German TV show Der goldene Schuss. It is most commonly associated with host Bob Monkhouse, though, three other presenters also hosted the show during its lifetime...
. The sequence featured clips from various films and Disney cartoons, backed by a funky jazz number known as "Atomic Butterfly" (which also seems to have been used for Sports Arena, an HTV Wales sports programme in the early 70s).
Series 2
Series 2 of Tiswas began from late 1974, and spanned almost every Saturday in 1975, finishing in early 1976. The presenting team was doubled to four presenters, and these were usually culled from ATV's presentation department. Chris Tarrant and John Asher retained their roles as the main presenters, although John would leave during this series. From the ranks at ATV, other regular presenters were established, notably sports reporter Trevor EastTrevor East
Trevor East, was originally presenter of Tiswas; stooge to Chris Tarrant and Derby County obsessed. He was subsequently ranked 27 in The Guardian's "Media 100" most influential people in the industry.-Presenter:...
(later director of sport at Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
) and announcer Peter Tomlinson
Peter Tomlinson
Peter Tomlinson is a broadcaster and continuity announcer. He created the British children's television series Tiswas and was the programme's co-presenter in its early years....
(later to become managing director of Saga Radio West Midlands and High Sheriff of the West Midlands
High Sheriff of the West Midlands
The Office of High Sheriff of the West Midlands is the ceremonial position of High Sheriff appointed to the West Midlands, a metropolitan county in central England. The appointment is made by the British monarch by Pricking the Lists...
).
Producer Peter Harris
Peter Harris
Peter Harris , popularly known as Blu Peter, is an electronic dance music record producer and disc jockey from South Wales who pioneered the Nu-NRG music genre in the late 1990s...
would leave the show in the summer to help produce another cult TV success - The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
, at ATV's London-orientated operation in Elstree
Elstree
Elstree is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire on the A5 road, about 10 miles north of London. In 2001, its population was 4,765, and forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree....
.
Series 3
Running from late 1976 to early 1977, Chris Tarrant, Peter Tomlinson and Trevor East were the main presenters. Almost all these shows were produced by Sid Kilbey. The 2 April 1977 show was a landmark edition, as part of the programme was broadcast outside the Midlands for the first time, on HTV Cymru Wales and HTV West, filling up their 'round-the-regions' compilation of Saturday morning programmes called Ten On Saturday.Series 4
This series, running from late 1977 to early 1978, marked an end to the provincial macro-budget shows of the previous shows, as the initial edition of this series began with some significant changes. Sally James was drafted in as the series' first regular female presenter. She had been the presenter of a regional Saturday morning show in London called Saturday Scene, produced by LWT. Comedian Jim DavidsonJim Davidson (comedian)
Jim Davidson OBE is a British comedian, actor and television presenter. He has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to entertainment, particularly of British service personnel in conflict zones.- Biography :The son of a Glaswegian father, Davidson was born in...
was intended to be a regular presenter, but left after only a few editions, although he would return for cameo appearances. Peter Tomlinson was axed as a regular, which came as a surprise to him.
Chris Tarrant was still retained as the anchor presenter, and behind the scenes was annoyed with the changes, particularly the inclusion of a woman as presenter. However, he later retracted this viewpoint, having witnessed the progress Tiswas had made with Sally's contribution.
One significant change almost never happened. ATV management were displeased with the visual slapstick element - the hurling of custard pies and water. They believed this was setting a bad example to the young viewers. Newly-drafted producer/director Glyn Edwards managed to retain this vital, messy element by drawing on his experience as a Punch & Judy puppeteer to create a 'villain' character called 'The Phantom Flan Flinger', who would be the black-clad masked nemesis of the presenting team, and the main instigator of pie-throwing chaos. The "phantom" was later revealed to be Ben Mills, a taxi driver from Cheswick Green, Solihull.
John Gorman made his debut in this series, but with just four appearances, it would not be until series 5 that he became a regular visitor to the Tiswas studios. Likewise, child performer Paul Hardin would make sporadic appearances.
The programme expanded its footprint further outside its home region. As well as appearing in part on HTV's Ten on Saturday, Anglia
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
, Border
Border Television
Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
and Scottish television began to screen Tiswas in its entirety. Anglia dropped the series a number of times to pick up other regions' Saturday morning programmes throughout Tiswass history.
Series 5
This series ran from late 1978 to early 1979. John Gorman became a regular performer from November onwards.Bob Carolgees made his debut in early 1979, having been told to go on the programme by Irish comic Frank Carson
Frank Carson
Frank Carson is a Northern Irish comedian and actor, best known on television in series such as The Comedians and Tiswas.-Early life:...
. Carolgees appeared again two weeks later, and Chris was so pleased with his contribution that he decided to make a regular fixture out of Bob.
Lenny Henry
Lenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
made sporadic appearances throughout this series, but was not established as a regular. Child performer Paul Hardin increased his visits to the studios, and could well be considered as a series 5 team member, likewise Sylveste McCoy
Sylvester McCoy
Sylvester McCoy is a Scottish actor. As a comic act and busker he appeared regularly on stage and on BBC Children's television in the 1970s and 80s, but is best known for playing the seventh incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1987 to...
(who added an "r" to his first name later in his career) who performed surreal comic interludes.
Series 6
ITV had been off the air across the nation since August due to a massive strike by technicians. Tiswas returned to the screens in November 1979 for its sixth series, as part of ITV's comeback; this was directly referenced in the first edition of the new series, when the "Welcome Home To ITV" jingle was played to usher the programme in and out of the advert breaks, albeit replacing the vocals by the Mike Sammes Singers with a group of deliberately out-of-tune children. Many ITV regions took the programme for the first time, establishing the show strongly in the nation's consciousness. London-based viewers tended to complain to the Independent Broadcasting AuthorityIndependent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
(IBA) about some of the edgier moments the show had.
With an almost national audience, the show became inclusive of its increased viewership by making a bigger role out of specially invited viewer performances. Many of these were children who sang songs or performed dance routines. Chris Tarrant, now producer as well as presenter, found most of these contributions to be of little value, until he came across a unique act by a five year old boy called Matthew Butler
Matthew Butler (Tiswas)
Matthew James Butler is a former child performer who appeared on cult Saturday morning children's show Tiswas in 1980 and 1981...
. Encouraged by his Tiswas-obsessed mother, Matthew auditioned for the series wearing a rabbit costume and sang the song 'Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes (Art Garfunkel song)
"Bright Eyes" is a song written by Mike Batt, and performed by Art Garfunkel. It was used in the soundtrack of the 1978 film Watership Down and as such is considered the theme song of the film and the later television series adaptations. The track also appears on Garfunkel's fourth studio album,...
' made famous by the animated film Watership Down
Watership Down (film)
Watership Down is a 1978 English adventure drama animated film written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions...
, although his own singing ability was rather poor. Chris found this so amusing that he arranged for him to appear on the following Tiswas, as well as many subsequent editions.
Also appearing a number of times in this series was Norman Collier
Norman Collier
Norman Collier is a long-serving comedian. He is best known for his 'faulty microphone' routine and for his chicken impressions.- Career and reputation :...
, the Yorkshire comedian best known for his broken microphone routine and chicken impressions.
Another by-product of Tiswas increased audience was the merchandise bandwagon - an annual book was established, and there was a tour of universities (recognising their adult and teenaged audience) by the Tiswas team, under the name of The Four Bucketeers
Four Bucketeers
The Four Bucketeers were an ad-hoc music/water-throwing group from the ITV children's programme Tiswas.Officially, the Four were Chris Tarrant, Sally James, John Gorman and Bob Carolgees; sometimes Lenny Henry contributed as well. Gorman was the musical talent in the group, having been part of The...
, which tied in with their spin-off album on CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. This all was born out of one feature of the sixth series - The Bucket Of Water Song, which was such a hit with the viewers that it evolved from an intended one-off to an almost regular part of Tiswas.
Series 7
By now, ATV had increased the budget for Tiswas, and Chris Tarrant had more of a say in the programme's production than ever before. A proper theme tune was created for it, and the studio set was based around ATV cartoonist Chris Wroe's caricatures of the presenting team.This series can be considered as the definitive series, due to the material drawn from this era that usually gets an airing on documentaries and clips shows when Tiswas is the subject. In addition, the three video compilations that have been released for sale have been packaged around a seventh series theme, with the bulk of the clips also being from this age.
Midway through this series, Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
decided to leave upon the series' conclusion. Also leaving him, on the final edition of series 7, were Bob Carolgees, Lenny Henry and John Gorman. They had decamped to start work on O.T.T.
O.T.T.
O.T.T. was a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show Tiswas, but made by its ITV franchise successor Central Television. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series in 1982. O.T.T. was created and presented by Chris Tarrant, and also starred ex-Tiswasians John...
, a late night version of Tiswas intended for an adult audience, which would debut in 1982. The only regular Tiswas presenter left was Sally James, who stayed on for series 8.
Series 8
The last series of Tiswas, beginning in September 1981, and ending in April 1982, had its format heavily tinkered with by ATV management. They believed that the adult audience should be avid viewers of Chris' 'late-night Tiswas, and that Tiswas itself should focus on its child audience. With this well-intended alteration, the original standard of Tiswas, with its adult undertones, deteriorated.The new presenting team consisted of Midlands DJ Gordon Astley
Gordon Astley
Gordon Astley was a presenter on BBC Southern Counties Radio until 9 Feb 2009.He was also presenter on the final series of the children's show Tiswas in 1982 alongside Sally James...
, former Darts
Darts (band)
Darts were a nine-piece British doo-wop revival band that achieved chart success in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The popular London-based band had a number of UK top 20 hits including three successive Number twos with revivals of early U.S...
frontman Den Hegarty
Den Hegarty
Den Hegarty is a rock and roll, doo-wop and a cappella singer.-Biography:At an early age Hegarty moved to Brighton, England...
and comic impressionist Fogwell Flax. Veteran Tiswas presenter Sally James stayed on and became the series' Music Editor, but decided to leave towards the series' end. This was likely to be one of the main factors in Central Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
's decision not to bring the programme back for a ninth series.
Semi-regulars were dwarf actor David Rappaport
David Rappaport
David Stephen Rappaport was an English actor, probably one of the best known dwarf actors in television and film...
who played characters such as 'Green Nigel' (in a pastiche of BBC programme Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
) and the Fonz-like 'Shades', Emil Wolk and puppeteer Trevor James with a giant parrot, presumably in a way to fill the void left by Bob Carolgees.
One Nine for Santa, was released by Fogwell Flax & the Anklebiters and featured on the show during December 1981.
At the end of 1981, a restructure of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's broadcast franchises saw ATV win back the franchise for the Midlands on condition of changes in management, regional output and branding. The first part of the final series was therefore produced by ATV and the second part by Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
.
The decision by TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
, the new ITV station in the south and south east of England, to drop the Central-produced half of the last series in favour of their own Saturday morning programme No. 73
No. 73
No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988...
saw fans of Tiswas picket outside their Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
studios. The eighth series was broadcast on TVS upon the end of No. 73
No. 73
No 73, later re-titled 7T3, was a British 1980s children's TV show produced by Television South for the ITV network. It was broadcast live on Saturday mornings and ran from 1982 to 1988...
s first series.
During its ATV days, the chairman of the station Lew Grade
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade , born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.-Early years:...
, was said to have taken a personal dislike to the show but was persuaded to let it continue, even arguing in its defence to criticism from the IBA. It was believed that the new management at Central frowned upon the anarchy of Tiswas (and the common popularity of another production, the soap-opera Crossroads) and in a desire to make the station more upmarket than its previous incarnation took the evidence of declining audiences for the new format to axe Tiswas after series 8.
Missing episodes
Almost every edition of Tiswas was transmitted live and only recorded in case of any future IBAIndependent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
investigation (as was standard practice at the time). Accordingly, they suffered the same fate as a number of 1970s children's series in that they were thought to have no further commercial use (the idea of home video entertainment was still in its infancy), and therefore many master tapes were wiped
Wiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
for re-use. As a result very few programmes officially exist in their entirety. Those that were kept were often stored in poor conditions, which led to severe picture deterioration and are no longer of broadcast quality
Broadcast quality
Broadcast Quality is an term stemming from quad videotape to denote the quality achieved by professional video cameras and time base correctors used for broadcast television, usually in standard definition...
.
However, some did survive; many viewers made their own recordings and in many cases these are the only existing copies of the programmes. Members of the production team and performers on the show would also record their appearances, leading to many episodes existing in private hands. In 2006, ITV began a search for many missing ITV programmes, including Tiswas, for their Raiders Of The Lost Archive series broadcast in 2007.
Their website reveals that only 22 episodes are known to officially exist in entirety - namely episode 60 from 30 August 1975, four episodes from 1978, two episodes from 1979, two episodes from 1980, five episodes from 1981 and nine episodes from 1982. Incomplete segments from show 151 (broadcast on 10 December 1977), an episode from 1978 and two episodes from 1979 are also known to have survived.
The prolific TiswasOnline fansite features an in-depth episode guide for the whole series, detailing where an episode is known to exist, whether as a private home recording or in the official archive. ITV plc has confirmed to TiswasOnline that many more programme elements (other than those officially known to exist) have been kept, but as yet these have not been fully catalogued. This may include insert material such as animations and graphics or filmed clips. Furthermore, the Tiswas Reunited programme in 2007 resulted in the discovery of further footage.
The replacement
Central's management brought in a new morning show, Big Daddy's Saturday Show, which was initially to have starred popular wrestler Big DaddyShirley Crabtree
Shirley Crabtree, Jr, better known as Big Daddy was a British professional wrestler famous for his record-breaking 64 inch chest...
. Although he appeared in the unscreened pilot he was unavailable for the series itself, which was instead broadcast as The Saturday Show. It was fronted by Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair , is a Scottish singer, actress and former game show co-host.-Early career:Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, central Scotland, in 1952. Her family came from North East Scotland and it was here that she spent her early years...
, folksinger and former co-host of The Generation Game
The Generation Game
The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...
on BBC TV and Tommy Boyd
Tommy Boyd
Timothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
, former co-presenter of ITV's Magpie
Magpie (TV series)
Magpie was a children's television programme shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture...
. It ran from 1982 to 1984.
O.T.T.
In 1982 Tarrant, Carolgees, Gorman, Randolph Sutherland and Henry hosted a late-night show - with the up and coming comics Alexei SayleAlexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
and Helen Atkinson-Wood
Helen Atkinson-Wood
Helen Atkinson-Wood is an English actress and comedian born in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Cheshire.Atkinson-Wood studied fine art at the Ruskin School, Oxford University, where she performed with Rowan Atkinson...
called O.T.T.
O.T.T.
O.T.T. was a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show Tiswas, but made by its ITV franchise successor Central Television. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series in 1982. O.T.T. was created and presented by Chris Tarrant, and also starred ex-Tiswasians John...
(standing for "Over the Top") which was effectively an "adult" version of Tiswas - in other words, it attempted to be just as anarchic, but with swearing and occasional topless women. It was not such a success and is today chiefly remembered for the naked 'Balloon Dance' performed by The Greatest Show on Legs, including comedian Malcolm Hardee
Malcolm Hardee
Malcolm Hardee was an English comedian, author, comedy club proprietor, compère, agent, manager and "amateur sensationalist"....
. The theme tune was recorded by Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
and was released as a single
Saturday Stayback
Saturday StaybackSaturday Stayback
Saturday Stayback was a late night comedy show made in 1983 by Central Television, starring Chris Tarrant. It was performed entirely in a public house....
was a late night comedy show based in a pub. Although intended as some sort of sequel to O.T.T., this differed quite a lot as it was all recorded rather than the live chaos of its predecessor. It mainly consisted comedy sketches, with some live music acts - usually Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
and Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
. Saturday Stayback received much less controversy than O.T.T., and also introduced new talent such as Phil Cool
Phil Cool
Phil Cool is an English comedian, impressionist and musician.-Early life:Cool discovered that he had the ability to pull faces when he was at school...
and Tony Slattery
Tony Slattery
Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery is an English actor and comedian who has appeared on British television regularly since the mid 1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? As a film actor, both comedic and serious, his credits include The...
. It lasted only six episodes. Chris Tarrant and Bob Carolgees were the only ex-Tiswas personnel regularly seen on screen, and John Gorman helped out on writing duty.
Tiswas Reunion
A definitive line-up of Tiswas presenters regrouped for a resurrection of Tiswas on the ITV Telethon of 1988. This took place in LWT's South Bank studios in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, culminating in an outside performance of The Bucket Of Water Song.
Ministry of Mayhem
In late 2005, ITV's Saturday morning show Ministry of Mayhem had a special edition featuring presenters from past Saturday morning shows, including Tiswas. Representing Tiswas was Sally James, although Chris TarrantChris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
did a video link-up for a brief interview of the show. Out of the cult Saturday morning shows that were focused on, Tiswas was significantly the most prominent, with many clips shown from it, and even a re-enactment of two Tiswas staples - the Cage and the Pass The Pie game.
Tiswas on Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
In December 2005, BBC Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in da BungalowDick and Dom in da Bungalow
Dick and Dom in da Bungalow was a CBBC children's entertainment television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom...
featured a thirty year old man singing 'Bright Eyes' with his friends as part of a talent spot. This person was Matthew Lewis, formerly known as Matthew Butler
Matthew Butler (Tiswas)
Matthew James Butler is a former child performer who appeared on cult Saturday morning children's show Tiswas in 1980 and 1981...
, who performed his unique rendition of the song back in 1980 on Tiswas when he was aged five. Presenters Richard McCourt
Richard McCourt
Richard "Dick" McCourt is an English actor and presenter of radio and television, best known as one half of the comic duo Dick and Dom, with the other being Dominic Wood...
and Dominic Wood
Dominic Wood
Dominic Simon "Dom" Wood is an English entertainer, magician and presenter of radio and television, best known as one half of the double act Dick and Dom, with the other being Richard McCourt....
took the opportunity to praise Matthew, as they are fans of Tiswas, and also to dispel recent tabloid rumours of Dick and Dom resurrecting Tiswas on ITV. However, Wood did present one episode of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow wearing a Tiswas T-shirt.
Lenny Henry on It Started With Swap Shop
Lenny HenryLenny Henry
Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...
appeared on the BBC's It Started With Swap Shop programme in 2006 in which he was talking to Noel Edmonds
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...
about Tiswas being their rival during the whole era of Swap Shop.
The rivalry was such that it was even used by football fans singing on the terrraces. The home team chanting 'Tiswas' and the away team chanting 'swap shop'. Tiswas,swapshop..Tiswas,swapshop..Tiswas swapshop, etc.
Tiswas Reunited – The 2007 Special
A new programme was broadcast by ITV1ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
on 16 June 2007, it started with the traditional ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
logo and jingle. This programme had been delayed from May in order to allow for an extended transmission slot. Celebrities and 'old Tiswas mates' alike joined in the fun. In an interview publicising this, Chris Tarrant
Chris Tarrant
Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...
put out an appeal to the public to submit any surviving video footage of the series to be included in the new programme - which resulted in the discovery of further footage.
A DVD release of the programme, featuring an extended edition plus a short featurette on the history of Tiswas was released shortly after transmission.
From the official press release:
For one night only, ITV1ITV1ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
brings you TiSWAS REUNITED, a one-off special reuniting the stars of the iconic groundbreaking children’s show TiSWAS. With a wealth of clips and reminiscences from the many stars who appeared on the series, the team will recreate the chaos and mayhem of those heady days of the show that broke the mould. TiSWAS REUNITED is new and exclusive to ITV1ITV1ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
, spring 2007.
The producers of the programme looked for people who were involved in the original series, whether they were in the audience, appeared as a guest, won a competition ("pulled up by the ears") or in any other capacity. The TiswasOnline website helped with these searches (and numerous other aspects of the new programme), and people could submit their details directly to the production team and apply to be in the cage.
A new logo for the programme was produced - it features the regular 'zig-zag' logo (including the Phantom Flan Flinger) with "Reunited" rubber-stamped across it.
The official Tiswas Reunited 'mini-site' features exclusive material about the making of the programme, as well as blogs by those who took part in the programme itself (guests and residents of the Cage!)
The ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
broadcast referred only briefly to John Asher and Trevor East, the programme's original presenters, and omitted to make any reference to the eighth and final series (possibly because it was the one series in which Reuniteds Executive Producer Chris Tarrant was not involved.)
Merchandise
Tiswas was a pioneer for children's television, making its way to shop shelves. Books, t-shirts, a regular magazine, an album, various singles and even a ceramic money box have all been daubed with the Tiswas logo.Magazine
A magazine counterpart was produced with interviews with cast, quizzes and letters. This appeared initially as Tiswas Family Fun Book at the beginning of 1981 and developed into Tiswas Magazine from September 1981 to coincide with the final series.Annuals
Four annual hardbook books were produced in Tiswass later years. Presenter/performer John GormanJohn Gorman
John Gorman , is an English comic entertainer, vocalist and musician.After grammar school, Gorman worked as a telecommunications engineer. He was a member of The Scaffold, best known for their 1967 hit single Lily the Pink, and its successor the band Grimms — the 'G' in Gorman providing the...
wrote the first three (Published in the Autumn of 1979, 1980, 1981), with Ollie Spencer writing the 1983 edition (prepared Spring 1982 and published Autumn 1982 featuring presenters and characters from the final 1981-82 series).
Video compilations
In the early 1990s, three VHS compilations were made available. The majority of Tiswas never survived as recordings, but among collectors, some with the earliest domestic VCRs, and some studio copies of later editions.These compilations weren't like ordinary editions of Tiswas, in that 'non-original' content such as music videos, film clips and cartoons were stripped out. Original features like competition spots and pop interviews were also excluded, in favour of highlighting the show's legacy to comedy and visual slapstick.
Best of the Best Bits
The first compilation, lasting about an hour, and purely full of comedy sketches from the series. Some of the most repeated clips from the series have made the grade for this compilation - notably some News Flash sketches with Lenny Henry as Trevor McDoughnut (including one where the target of the spoof - Trevor McDonaldTrevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald OBE is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist. He had a long career as a news presenter with ITN...
- takes over as a surprise) and the 'viewer's letters' clip where Sally James is pied and drenched in semolina, baked beans and custard. Moving slightly away from comedy, the music video for The Four Bucketeers' Bucket Of Water song is included.
More of the Best Bits
The second compilation continued in the same vein as the first. Frank CarsonFrank Carson
Frank Carson is a Northern Irish comedian and actor, best known on television in series such as The Comedians and Tiswas.-Early life:...
being soaked unexpectedly is a running gag, and there is a full rendition of 'Bright Eyes' from Matthew Butler. A music video for The Four Bucketeers' Water Is Wonderful ends the compilation.
Comedy Capers
This was targeted at the stand-up comedy VHS market at the time, and the inlay cover made great mention of comic legends' appearances, such as Spike MilliganSpike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
, Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
and Bernard Manning
Bernard Manning
Bernard John Manning was an English comedian and nightclub owner. He was born and raised in Manchester in northwest England....
. Content-wise, it is very similar to the previous two compilations, with many sketches being performed by the Tiswas team. However, this compilation has no contribution from The Four Bucketeers.
DVD
In addition to the "Tiswas Reunited" DVD, released by ITV DVD a week after transmission of the 2007 programme, the only other Tiswas DVD available is The Best of Tiswas.Issued in October 2005 by Network DVD, The Best of Tiswas was a straight DVD issuing of the three VHS compilations - Best of the Best Bits, More of the Best Bits and Comedy Capers. Being on DVD format, the incentive over the VHS version is one of picture quality. However due to the rarity of some Tiswas material (many episodes surviving only on off-air recordings) there is some understandably rough-looking footage here and there. Additionally the More of the Best Bits compilation is entirely sourced from a VHS copy as the original VHS release's master tape could not be located in time for transfer.
Plans for a second volume are pending, based on sales of the first DVD.
External links
- British Film Institute Screen Online listing for Tiswas
- Tiswas Online Recognised by ITV and the members of the original Tiswas team
- TV Cream - Tiswas A brief history and glossary of Tiswas
- Chris Tarrant Fan Site
- Contains a comment on the similarity of the logo for the London 2012 Summer Olympics to Tiswass logo.
- Tiswas Producer Glyn Edwards talks about his days on the show